NCAA Division II
Foyle's passion for basketball belies his easy-going nature
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Flex: Slang for chilling out, relaxing, cruising.
So it may seem odd, then, that "Flex" is Alexus Foyle's nickname.
The junior forward for Brigham Young-Hawai'i does anything but kick back on the court, where he is averaging 19.1 points and eight rebounds per game.
In the Seasiders' last three road wins, Foyle amassed 66 points and 30 rebounds and shot 46 percent from the field at the AT&T Alascom Jamboree in Anchorage last week. Those numbers made him the obvious choice for the tournament's most outstanding player and the PacWest Player of the Week.
Foyle does have time to flex — listening to reggae on his Walkman before every game just to focus and relax, hanging out with friends at parties, watching ESPN.
But his passion is basketball, a sport the 23-year-old has only been playing for six years.
"One of the reasons why I'm so successful in basketball is because I love playing," said Foyle, a native of St. Vincent in the West Indies. "I'm not in it for the money. Back in the islands you can't see an NBA game, we don't know much about basketball, maybe you see it in magazines, but we don't really know what's going on. I just want to play. I just love the game."
Foyle started playing street ball in his hometown upon the recommendation of his cousin, Golden State Warriors center Adonal Foyle, who convinced Alexus to ditch cricket and soccer.
"I started playing and playing until I really started to love it," Foyle said. "Basketball has more style. You can 360-dunk on somebody, it's fun to watch."
Without any high school experience, Foyle managed to snag a spot on the College of the Desert (Palm Desert, Calif.) basketball team, averaging more than 20 points per game. Though recruited by Division I and II programs, Foyle chose BYUH after visiting the campus.
"In my mind, God said to come here," he said, "so that's why I'm here. And I know I made the right decision."
In his first season with the Seasiders, Foyle has already made an impact. BYUH has the best record among Hawai'i schools in the PacWest at 6-2, and Foyle is second to Hilo's Scott Prather in scoring.
Against Alaska-Anchorage Saturday, Foyle led all scorers with 28 points, rallying the Seasiders to a 74-73 victory. Though he hit only 11 of 27 shots, he scored when it mattered most.
But his 13 rebounds is what he's most proud of.
"I love rebounding," said Foyle, who is 6 feet 6 and 210 pounds. "You gotta have the ball to do anything, so I like to get it. You do nothing without the ball. So I'm going to get rebounds."
And playing in Alaska, the coldest place he's ever visited, was an experience.
"I thought it would be cold, like in the 60s, maybe 50s," he said. "But it was 7 degrees. It was cold."
Though most teams find it difficult to play on the road, BYUH has won all four of its away games.
"Traveling is always difficult," Foyle said. "The plane ride was so long (nine hours). When you get there, you gotta practice, but you gotta walk in the snow to get to the gym, and the gym's not really heated. It was hard to stay warm."
Anchorage was a striking difference from St. Vincent, a small island in the Caribbean slightly less than twice the size of Washington, D.C. with only about 110,000 people.
It's easier to find similarities with Hawai'i — the weather, the food, the music.
"Except that we have more fruits, more fish and better beaches," he said.
But hardly any basketball. So for his cousin to have made it big in the pros was a big deal.
Foyle hopes to be as successful, but isn't counting on it. Majoring in exercise and sport science at BYUH, he wants to be a basketball coach back home.
"All I want is for my mom, my dad, my sisters to feel proud," he said. "I just love the game."
More basketball
• Hawai'i Pacific: Coming off a 86-56 loss to No. 16 Seattle Pacific Saturday on the road, Hawai'i Pacific (3-3) has a lot of time to rebound. The Sea Warriors don't play until Dec. 14, when they meet Montana State University-Northern at the Blaisdell Arena.
Nick Spajic led the Sea Warriors with 24 points against Seattle Pacific. Fellow senior guard Nash Subotic, who had been carrying the scoring load while Spajic recovered from an ankle injury, contributed 12 points. Subotic has scored in double figures in every game this season.
But even with the return of Spajic, the conference's leading scorer last year, HPU is fourth in the PacWest.
• Chaminade: Led by forward Leon Ballard, Chaminade (2-3) won its second straight game Saturday with a 64-51 win over San Francisco State. The 6-foot-5 junior from Sacramento, Calif. led the Silverswords with 12 points. Junior forward Mike Donegan added 11.
The Silverswords hit the road for the first time this season, playing Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. on Dec. 18.
• Hawai'i-Hilo: Forward Kyle Bartholomew led Hawai'i-Hilo with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in a 63-61 win over San Francisco State, 63-61, Nov. 29.
Hilo (4-2) next plays Lincoln University Dec. 15.
Senior guard Scott Prather leads the PacWest in scoring (20.2 points per game) and steals (3 per game). The Kula, Maui native is second in field goal percentage at .592, behind Chaminade's Mike Donegan.
